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User blog:Bern Unit/Bern Unit - Ying Yang and Java
It was a sunny, calm day in the Little Bohemia district of Metropolis. People are walking among the streets with smiles on their faces and it seems like business as usual in the streets of the city, no signs of ships hovering over the city, no incursion zones, and no drones wandering around. The city feels calm and content. A non-rocked skinned Bernard Conners emerges from an apartment building in the city and begin walking towards his favorite coffee shop as he does just about every day. Bernard was early in his recovery efforts and barely comfortable with himself. While one wouldn't classify Bernard as “angry”, he didn't really make much of an effort to get to know people. Bernard had come to find a comfort with his routine and didn't like being thrown from it. Being “civil” was the best he could muster in these last few months. He didn't want to cause any problems and didn't do anything that he thought would invite someone to bring trouble his way. “Hey Bernard, right on time again dude” said the man behind the counter of the corner shop. “Yeah, you know me Williams, I’ll take my usual”. Williams began brewing up a cup for Bernard and handed it to him along with a croissant and a couple pads of butter. Bernard went to his corner table and hunkered down into the little booth. “Hey Bernard, did you see in the paper that Superman saved a plane that was falling out the sky yesterday?”, Bernard shook his head “No Williams, I missed that story”. Williams was an interesting character to Bernard, he had been coming to this same shop every day for close to 2 years and Williams was there every day with a story, a comment or something that he tried to cheer up his customers with. Williams was also on the Autism spectrum, Bernard was leaning towards Asperger’s. Williams never worked alone but he had that shop run like clockwork. He knew people’s orders, their names and had fresh pots going, seemingly all day. Williams was about 28 years old if Bernard had to guess. He stood about 5’10, was skinny as a rail and had long, scraggly blonde hair he kept pulled in a tail under his cap. While Bernard wasn't able to always share in his enthusiasm for the general public, he did find it amusing to see someone so happy to be stuck behind a counter all day. Bernard would stop at this shop every day before going to his job as a demolitions technician for a construction company. Bernard was told by Williams that he used to work for a computer programming company but ended up losing the job because his “brain got all screwy” or what some would call a brief, psychotic episode. Fortunately for Williams and the customers of the shop he was in regular therapy and had a very diligent psychiatrist who made sure that Williams was taking his medication as he was supposed to. It would seem that while Bernard didn't seek out human contact, the interaction he got from Williams was part of the “routine” he had come to create for himself. One night while walking home from an A.A. meeting Bernard noticed that the “open” sign on Williams’ coffee shop was still lit. “Hmm, they should have been closed by now” Bernard noted to himself. Not being one to turn down a good cup he decided to make one more purchase for the night. Upon entering the shop he was met by two armed, masked men who were robbing the shop. “Jesus man, I thought you locked the door!!” shouted one man to the other, “Ah hell, get him” ordered the other man. Bernard could see Williams had been pretty badly beaten on the other side of the counter with a swollen, black eye and a bloody nose that had run onto his shirt and apron. Bernard was taken by the gun man towards the back where Williams was. Bernard had made a few moves to grab the gun from the robber and threw him into a wall head first, rendering him unconscious. In that moment there was a loud bang and Bernard turned to find Williams on the ground with a gunshot wound in his shoulder. The second man grabbed what he could in panic as you could see in his eyes he wasn't planning on going this far with the heist. Cops arrived and with the help of a wounded but conscious Williams they were able to sort things out. Bernard was struck by the fact that someone would go as far to take a bullet for another person. The two talked for quite a while that evening and Bernard took the next couple of days to visit Williams in the hospital while he recovered. Through their conversations Bernard developed an appreciation for Williams’ dry, unfiltered perspectives on various aspects of human life and behavior. Bernard confided in Williams about his drinking and troubled past. Often Williams would reply “why the hell would you do that to yourself? That stuff is bad for you” or “man you were not thinking there were you”. Bernard often could only reply “yeah I guess you’re right Williams.” Williams would grow to be an unbiased sounding board for Bernard and often the two could be found in the coffee shop at night where Bernard would confide many thoughts and feelings he had about different aspects of his life. He did this because he knew Williams would “give it to him straight” and not candy coat things. Bern now looked over the city block where Williams’ coffee shop still sits. Bern wondered if Williams still worked there considering it had been close to a year since he had been in those doors. Bern found himself wondering if one of the few people he called “friend” would be there. Bern slowly swooped down off the building and walked in the doors. The bell rang over the door signaling to the cashier that someone was coming in. Williams was still there, still the same Williams and he looked at the lard masked figure standing in his shop. “Look man, I don’t need any trouble tonight, take what you want and get out, just leave me..”. Bern stopped Williams’ rant and said “Williams, It’s me, Bernard” and he pulled his mask off. Williams looked puzzled and examined the figure from across the counter. “Hmm…you got the same name as Bernard, look kind of like him, even sound like him. If you are Bernard than you can tell me how my arm got to look like this” motioning to the left arm of Williams being in a sling. This was due to the gun shot he received that night causing major nerve damage and rendering the arm near useless. Bern smiled a little and told the story of the night the two men entered the store and Williams saved Bern’s life. “Bernard! Hey Man!!” Williams said with excitement. He came from around the counter and gave the customary “bro hug”. Williams made a fresh pot and the two traded stories; Bern explained the exobyte contact and the series of events thereafter, Williams explained how the store has been robbed multiple times over the last few months. Bern made Williams rest assured that no one would bother his store again and that Williams had a friend looking out for him and his store from now on. “Do you know Superman now Bernard?” asked with anxious excitement. ~To be continued~ Category:Blog posts